Palestinian MPs human rights workers and activists agreed on Saturday to start a popular movement protesting the Palestinian Authority (PA) government’s cuts which amounted between 30%-50% imposed on the salaries of thousands of employees in the Gaza Strip.
This came during a meeting organized by the Coalition for Accountability and Integrity (AMAN) in Gaza and Ramallah via the video conference. The meeting was ended by announcing rejection of the decision of the PA government which is led by Rami Hamdallah to impose salary cuts on the PA employees in the Gaza Strip. An escalation action plan is going to start in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip against the decision.
According to al-Eqtesadia newspaper the executive director of the coalition Majdi Abu Zeid said that the participants agreed to form a follow-up committee to coordinate between all civil and national activities and prepare for the coming activities which will start with a protest next Monday in front of the Council of Ministers in Ramallah.
Dr. Azmi al-Shueibi the commissioner of AMAN Coalition said that the PA salary cuts affected 25 000 civil employees and 33000 military ones wondering “If the decision was aimed at addressing the financial crisis facing the PA government why was it imposed in the Gaza Strip without the West Bank?”
Shueibi pointed out that the PA is the one who ordered the Gazan employees to stay at home and stop working after the 2007 incidents and now they are getting punished for this.
He added that all the efforts made by the AMAN Coalition to get a copy of the decision were in vain affirming that the decision that is being implemented is an unpublished decision that cannot be challenged before courts. “This does not even happen in the worst dictatorships” he argued.
For his part Mohammed Abu Jayyab the editor-in-chief of al-Eqtesadia newspaper confirmed that the decision had been planned a long time ago noting that the main goal of this decision is to challenge Hamas Movement no more and no less.
Abu Jayyab warned that this decision does not only affect the financial sector but also Gaza’s security and social peace stressing that serious repercussions will ensue that are not going to be limited to Gaza only.
Mohsen Abu Ramadan the head of the NGOs network in Gaza said that the civil society institutions realize the seriousness of this decision on the Gaza Strip which is already suffering from poverty and unemployment.
Abu Ramadan emphasized that the Gazan citizens are aware of the discrimination practiced against them and feel that the PA government attempts to gradually escape its responsibilities toward Gaza. He asked for this file to be addressed to the High Court of Justice.
The coordinator of the Council of Human Rights Organizations Mahmoud al-Ifranji affirmed that the salary cuts targeting the Gaza employees does not only lack legal justification but also falls within the political conflict resulting from the internal division.
Politburo member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine MP Khalida Jarrar warned of the attempts to target Gaza alone and then the West Bank alone and called for forming a unified committee to confront the decision collectively and pursue all possible methods to reverse it.
